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sea.
Toothless flapped back to Hiccup's shoulder.
"T-T-Toothless got a t-t-tummy-aeie," he complained. Hiccup tried not to see his father looking surprised on the sidelines. He tried not to notice the crowd whispering to each other: "That's Stoick's son over there -- no, not the tall one with the skeleton tattoos who looks like a pig, the small skinny one who can't even control his minuscule dragon."
"Don't forget, Toothless," said Hiccup through gritted teeth, "tie FISH. I'm going to tell you all tie jokes I've ever hearh., remember?" "T-t-tell me NOW," said Toothless.
Help came from an unexpected quarter.
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Snotlout broke off from yelling "KILL, FIREWORM, KILL" to lean over and sneer at Hiccup. "What ARE you doing, Hiccup? You're not TALKING to that newt with wings, are you? Talking to dragons is against the rules and forbidden by order of Stoick the Vast, your wimpy father. ..."
"N-n-newt with wings?" repeated Toothless. "N-N-NEWT WITH WINGS???"
"You're not a newt with wings, are you, Toothless?" said Hiccup. "You're tie best hunter in tie world, aren't you?"
"Too RIGHT I am," said Toothless, grumpily.
"You SHOW that Snotface Snotlout and Ms snobby dragon what a REAL hunting dragon can do," said Hiccup urgently.
"OKAY, then," said Toothless.
Hiccup heaved a huge sigh of relief as Toothless took off in shambolic fashion in the general direction of the sea.
"This is too good to be true," Hiccup said to himself ten minutes later as Toothless returned from a second trip, clearly too bored for words but dropping a couple of herring at Hiccup's feet. "In about half an
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hour, I, Hiccup, will become a fully paid-up member of the Hairy Hooligan tribe."
It was too good to be true. Fireworm was just flying back to Snotlout with her twentieth fish, her green cat's eyes snapping with triumph, when Toothless called out:
"S-s-sloppy. snob."
Fireworm stopped in mid-air. Her head whipped round, her eyes narrowing.
"WHAT did you say?" hissed Fireworm.
"Oh no," said Hiccup. "No, Toothless, no, don't
do it...."
"S-s-sloppy. snob," jeered Toothless. "Is that the best you can do? It's p-p-pathetic. Hopeless. U-u-use-iess. You N-N-Nightmares think you're so cruel but you're s-s-sloppy as scallops."
"YOU," hissed Fireworm, her ears dangerously back as she crept forward through the air like a leopard about to spring, "are a little LIAR."
"Anil Y-Y-YOU," said Toothless calmly, "are a r-r-rabbit-hearted, s-s-seaweeh-brained, w-w-winkle-eating SNOB."
Fireworm went for him.
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Toothless streaked off, as quick as lightning, and Fireworm's massive jaws snapped together with a sickening crunch on nothing but thin air.
Chaos ensued.
Fireworm completely lost control. She plunged wildly through the air, claws out, biting anything that moved, and letting out great bursts of flame.
Unfortunately, in the process she accidentally scratched Killer, a dragon with a very short temper. Killer then attacked any Hooligan dragon within biting distance.
Soon the dragons were involved in a full-scale, rip-roaring dragonfight, with the boys running around shouting at them to stop and trying to pull them apart without getting killed themselves. The dragons took absolutely no notice whatsoever, however hard the boys yelled -- and Thuggory and Snotlout were very red in the face after some pretty impressive yelling.
Gobber the Belch went ballistic on the sidelines.
"CANSOMEBODYTELLMEWHATINTHORAND-WODEN'SNAMEISHAPPENING?"
Toothless was in his element in this kind of chaos, dodging Fireworm's angry lunges with ease, nipping in with a lively bite at Alligatiger here and a
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scratch at Brightclaw there, obviously enjoying the fight enormously.
Even Horrorcow showed a great deal of spirit for a dragon who was supposedly vegetarian. She managed to give Fireworm a truly impressive bite on the bottom as Fireworm and Killer rolled through the air biting chunks out of one another.
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Gobber the Belch entered the fray, grabbing hold of
Legs McNeil, Jennifer Osborne, Peter Pavia